MSC Shipmanagement Limited and Hong Kong Spirit Shipping and Trading Limited pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) for discharging oily waste into the ocean. The companies were sentenced to a combined fine of $1.75 million and four years of probation. Second Engineer Mikhail Tsurikov, previously convicted under APPS, is set for sentencing on Sept. 10. Between June 2024 and January 2025, crew members on the MSC Samira III bypassed oil water separators by transferring oily bilge water to sewage tanks and discharging it into the sea. They also falsified records by using fresh water in oil content monitors. The vessels presented falsified oil record books to U.S. authorities in Philadelphia in January 2025. Investigations by the Coast Guard and DOJ led to the prosecutions. The case highlights violations of U.S. and international maritime regulations requiring accurate discharge documentation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Materials reproduced from https://www.justice.gov/.
No endorsement by the DOJ is implied.
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